Bill of Rights

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Man's Quest to Get Land Rover Back Reaches Supreme Court

The case involves the Bill of Rights

(Newser) - The Supreme Court left little doubt Wednesday that it would rule that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help an Indiana man recover the $40,000 Land Rover police seized when they arrested him for selling about $400 worth of heroin....

George Washington's Book Sells for $10M

223-year-old volume includes Bill of Rights and Constitution

(Newser) - A 223-year-old book once owned by George Washington has raked in nearly $10 million at auction. The 106-page leather-bound edition of The Acts of Congress was printed for the first president in 1789 and includes a copy of the Constitution and a draft of the Bill of Rights. Washington's...

Obama Throws Away Civil Liberties With Defense Bill

President to sign bill allowing indefinite detention of Americans

(Newser) - President Obama is taking a lot of heat today for dropping his threat to veto a controversial defense bill that could allow the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on US soil. In a fiery editorial, the New York Times today called it "a complete political cave-in,...

Crooks' Best Friend on High Court Is ... Antonin Scalia?

Justice has overturned convictions on the right to challenge witnesses

(Newser) - You might not think of arch-conservative Antonin Scalia as a crusader for convicts, but that’s exactly what the Supreme Court justice has become, leading a pro-defendant coalition based on his strict interpretation of the Constitution, the LA Times observes. Prosecutors are especially worried about his take on the 6th...

Assange: Palin, Huckabee 'Inciting People to Murder' Me

When was due process tossed out, he asks in interview

(Newser) - Furious WikiLeaker Julian Assange yesterday slammed critics like Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin for "inciting people to murder" him. "If we are to have a civil society you cannot have senior people making calls on national TV to go around the judiciary and murder people. That is incitement...

Glenn Beck Thinks God Wrote the Bill of Rights

Fox host mangles US history

(Newser) - Glenn Beck mangled US history pretty spectacularly in a health care rant yesterday, attacking Tom Harkin for saying that reform would make health care “an unalienable right.” Beck’s response: “Tom! I don’t know if you’ve read the Declaration of Independence, but you don’t...

Assaults on Our Freedom Come From Left and Right

Long bipartisan history of infringing on rights of Americans

(Newser) - Those who blame the current administration for assaults on US constitutional freedoms should take a longer view, writes Alexander Cockburn in the American Conservative. “No doubt the conservatives who cheered Bush on as he abrogated ancient rights and stretched the powers of his office to unseen limits would have...

DC's Handgun Ban Heads to Supreme Court

Justices get unprecedented crack at Second Amendment

(Newser) - John Roberts' Supreme Court will get a rare crack at an undefined piece of the Bill of Rights this week when it examines whether Washington, DC's handgun ban violates the Second Amendment. Though Americans' right to bear arms has been debated for 200 years, reports the Washington Post, the court...

Magna Carta Back in US Archives
Magna Carta Back in US Archives
Mar 4, 2008 5:35 PM CST

Magna Carta Back in US Archives

Carlyle Group founder returns it after buying for $21.3M

(Newser) - The Magna Carta returned to the National Archives yesterday after facing an uncertain fate on the auction block last year, the Washington Post reports. The 13th-century English document, a precursor to the US Bill of Rights 500 years later, is now on permanent loan from a US businessman who bought...

Liberal Scholars Embrace Gun Ownership

Much to their own uncomfortable surprise

(Newser) - When a federal appeals court ruled against a District of Columbia gun control law in March,  it was the first time an appellate court had used the Second Amendment to restrict gun contol legislation. And it was, even more surprisingly, the result of work by a group of liberal...

Equal Rights Amendment Is Back
Equal Rights Amendment Is Back
Mar 28, 2007 9:43 AM CDT

Equal Rights Amendment Is Back

Democrats push for gender equality in the constitution

(Newser) - The Equal Rights Amendment is making a comeback, with Democrats reintroducing it in both houses of Congress yesterday, and five state legislatures putting it on the docket since January. The measure banning sex discrimination passed the House and Senate in 1972, but it went down to defeat when only 35...

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